Protestors on Avenida Paulista – São Paulo – Brazil – 16 August 2015
Photo Credit: David Shalom / iG São Paulo

After leading Brazil’s economic boom under Former President Lula da Silva (2003-2010) and its record in reducing unemployment and poverty, the left-wing Workers’ Party (PT) government is facing a tough time. A weak global economy has taken its toll on South America’s largest economy. As has happened before during periods of recession, Brazil’s cost of living and job losses are on the rise again. This time, the implosion of the US$2 billion graft at oil giant, Petrobras, in March 2014, has weakened the nation’s economic foundations and moral fabric.

For the government opposition, conditions are ripe for bringing down President Dilma Rousseff and the Workers’ Party, in power since 2003. With the media giant, Grupo Globo, stoking the fires of discontent, and backed by the major conservative party (PSDB), an estimated 795,000 people from rising right-wing organizations and the middle class took to the streets for the third time this year on Sunday, August 16, in all major cities across the country. Continue reading →